VATICAN IRKED BY ' BLASPHEMOUS' VIRGIN MARY TV SPOOF IN ISRAEL

The Vatican said Friday it has formally complained to the Israeli government about an Israeli TV show that ridiculed Jesus and Mary in an offensive act of intolerance.

The Israeli foreign ministry said the segment wouldn't be shown again and that its host, well-known Israeli comedian Lior Shlein, had apologized. In the program, Shlein sarcastically denied Christian traditions - that Mary was a virgin and that Jesus walked on water - saying he was doing so as a lesson to Christians who deny the Holocaust.
It was a reference to the Vatican's recent lifting of the excommunication of a bishop who denied 6 million Jews were killed during World War II. The rehabilitation sparked outrage among Jews. A statement from the Vatican press office said its representative in Israel complained to the government about the segment, which was broadcast recently on private Channel 10, one of Israel's three main TV stations, during Shlein's late-night comedy talk show. In the clip, the Vatican said, Mary and Joseph were ridiculed with blasphemous words and images that amounted to a vulgar and offensive act of intolerance toward the religious sentiments of the believers in Christ.

In the show, Mary is said to have become pregnant at 15, thanks to a schoolmate. It said Jesus could never have walked on water because he was so fat he was ashamed to leave the house, let alone go to the Sea of Galilee with a bathing suit. Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the ministry approached Channel 10 based on the papal nuncio's complaints, and was told the segment would not air again. Palmor said the station's legal adviser had also already sent a letter of apology to an attorney who represents a Christian group who had been offended by the segment. Palmor said Shlein apologized live on Wednesday, and said he didn't mean to offend anyone. The clip was a sarcastic response to the Vatican's rehabilitation of Bishop Richard Williamson, who said in an interview broadcast on Swedish state TV that no Jews were gassed during the Holocaust and that only 200,000 or 300,000 Jews were killed. he Vatican's rehabilitation of Williamson sparked outrage that only abated after Pope Benedict XVI met with Jewish leaders at the Vatican last week. During his audience, the German-born pope issued a strong denunciation of anti-Semitism and said it was unacceptable for anyone - particularly a clergyman - to deny or minimize the Holocaust. The Vatican has demanded that Williamson, a member of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, recant before he can be admitted as a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church. On Thursday, the government of Argentina, where Williamson had been living, ordered him expelled within 10 days. It cited an immigration problem but also said his comments about the Holocaust had profoundly insulted Argentina, Jews and all of humanity. The British-born Williamson had already been removed as director of the society's La Reja seminary. He has apologized for causing distress to the pope but has not recanted. He has said he would only correct himself if he is satisfied after a review of the evidence, but has said that would take time.

BARACK OBAMA HAS BEATEN JESUS CHRIST TO BE THE NO:1 HERO IN UNITED STATES; PRAY FOR THIS NATION WHOSE FOUNDATION WAS BASED ON GOD

Blessed is the Nation whose God is the LORD; OBAMA beats Jesus

US President Barack Obama has beaten Jesus Christ to be American's number one hero, according to a new rris poll. The top 10 list based on the poll showed Obama at number one position, Christ at number two, and Martin Luther King at number three. Take a look at the heroes of America...

US CHURCH WHICH CALLS FOR HOMOSEXUALS TO BE KILLED, BANNED FROM UNITED KINGDOM

Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper had planned to fly into Britain to protest against a play being put on by a gay youth group.
The pair are members of the church, based in Kansas, which has been described as "the most evil religious sect in the world".
Mr Phelps, 79, and his daughter Ms Phelps-Roper, 51, had targeted a performance of The Laramie Project, about the death of an American man killed for being homosexual.
They had announced that they would picket the play, which is due to be held at a school arts centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on Friday.
But the pair will now be stopped by immigration officials if they arrive and placed straight on a flight back to the US.
The ban comes after Dutch MP Geert Wilders was barred from the UK last week for his extremist views on Islam.
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "The Home Secretary has excluded both Fred Phelps and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper from the UK.
"Both these individuals have engaged in unacceptable behaviour by inciting hatred against a number of communities. The Government has made it clear it opposes extremism in all its forms.
"We will continue to stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country. That was the driving force behind the tighter rules on exclusion for unacceptable behaviour that the Home Secretary announced on 28th October last year.
"The exclusions policy is targeted at all those who seek to stir up tension and provoke others to violence regardless of their origins and beliefs."
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church, mostly Phelps family relatives, regularly picket funerals of US war heroes, claiming their deaths are punishment for America's tolerance of gays.
Fred Phelps has also described the Prophet Mohammed as a "demon-possessed whoremonger" and once said Catholics were part of the "church of the holy paedophiles".

EVANGELICAL CHURCH LEADERS ARRESTED IN CHINA: PRAY AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE

BEIJING — Police raided a private evangelical seminar in central China and detained more than 60 worshippers, with four of them still in custody a week after the roundup, a U.S.-based Christian group said Wednesday.
More than 30 police office broke into the gathering Feb. 11 in Nanyang city in central Henan province, the China Aid Association said in a statement.
China's communist government allows worship only in state-supervised churches, which claim about 11 million members. Christians and clergy in unofficial churches are regularly harassed and detained.
The participants came from four provinces for the event at which two South Korean pastors had been invited to speak, China Aid said.
The Christians were escorted to a hotel in Nanyang by police, where their personal belongings were taken. They were registered, fined and released, the group said. It was not clear how much they had to pay.
Li Dewei, director of the propaganda office of the public security bureau of Nanyang city, said he did not know about the matter.
The two South Korean pastors were expelled from China on Feb. 14 for "engaging in illegal religious activities," the group said. They were also banned from re-entering China for five years.
Two Chinese church leaders were released two days later, but at least four remain in custody, China Aid said.

WILLOW CREEK'S CHICAGO PASTOR QUITS ' SEXUAL IMPURITY '

The pastor who headed the Chicago congregation of the evangelical Willow Creek Community Church has resigned after "he admitted to sexual impurity," church officials said Tuesday night in a statement.
Members of the congregation were told Jan. 25 that the Rev. Steve Wu had resigned as campus pastor of the church.

"He admitted to sexual impurity and has taken full responsibility for his sin," the statement said.
Details about what happened and what's next for Wu were unclear, but the statement said Wu "has expressed a desire to participate in a restoration process."
Reached at home Tuesday night, Ted Allen Miller, church spokesman, did not elaborate.
Todd Katter has agreed to serve as interim campus pastor while church officials search for the next campus pastor.
"We would ask you to pray diligently for Steve in these difficult days," the statement said.
The Daily Herald notes that Wu was tapped for the Chicago job back in 2006.